Hunter Valley candidate throws support behind coal miners [opinion]

By
Lee Watts
22 August 2014

Editorial

I am not here today to present legal arguments, because this
is not a court room. I am not here today to make environmental assessments,
because environmental assessors have already done that. I am not here today to
play the role of bureaucrat, because that is the role of the department of planning.

I am here today, because I support the Drayton workers and
their families, many of whom have expressed to me their frustration that their
voices have been drowned out in this process.

Many people were surprised when, as an independent candidate
for the state seat of Upper Hunter, I came out in support of the Drayton South
expansion. As the former Upper Hunter Shire Council Mayor I had opposed the
development of the Bickham coal mine near Murrurundi.

Others were surprised that I formed a view at all! As it
seems the status quo is politicians should sit on the fence, wait for a
decision to be made either way and then tell people “I was behind it all along”
or “I opposed it all the way”, depending on who they are talking to.

So, why do I support this expansion?

I support the Drayton South expansion, because fundamentally
this is about an existing mine, wanting to continue operations on land they
have owned for years. The mine has been in operation for more than 30 years and
those 30 years are proof it can co-exist with neighbours.

To be clear, Coolmore purchased their property neighbouring
the mine in 1991 and Darley purchased in 2008. They were both fully aware that
there was a fully functioning open cut coal mine as their neighbour and they
proceeded with their purchase.They were both fully aware of the land that Anglo
owned and the coal licences they held on that land and they proceeded with
their purchase.

For the horse studs to now run a campaign, stating they can
no longer co-exist, is a bit like moving in beside an airport and demanding the
airport close; it’s not reasonable.

The factionalism and
at-any-cost-campaign style is also unreasonable.

The campaign by the horse studs
has become an anti-mining campaign and the local community has become a
casualty.

I’ve lived in the Upper Hunter area
for decades and raised my family here, who are now raising their own family.

I have never witnessed the kind of
factionalism that is occurring now within our community, between the horse
studs and mining. It has developed into an “us-or-them” argument, which is
churlish and unnecessary.

Despite the equine industry
presenting a unified front in public, behind the scenes, there is a different
story.

While the studs may all dutifully
sign the petitions and support open letters in metropolitan newspapers, there
are some within the equine industry who don’t believe this campaign is
reasonable.

They feel this battle, is the
wrong battle to back and that this campaign could actually undermine the
broader thoroughbred industry in the Valley. They worry that this battle could
erode their own chances of opposing a new mining development in areas where
mining currently does not exist.

There are lots of theatrics
involved.

Coolmore on one hand threatens to
leave the Valley if the mine is allowed to continue, but they have purchased
more land.

Stud workers have said they’ve been
told there have been no group one winners from areas where there is mining, because
of the mining, despite any epidemiological evidence of a connection.

While some of the arguments may
get traction in the city where the politicians read the papers and the
lobbyists have their ears, the local people are not being taken for fools.

When the mine states they directly
employ more than 500 people, the studs then claim they employ more than 600.
This kind of misrepresentation only discredits the equine campaign.

Local people know the truth and
the horse studs should tell the truth. There are not, 600 people full time,
directly employed at Coolmore and Darley-Woodlands.

Local people know that figure is
taking in people from throughout the entire Hunter equine industry and includes
overseas workers and casuals during breeding. They know the figures don’t add
up.

The blasting is a good example of
a genuine compromise between the mine and a stud, which is now being used for
political point scoring. The mine could do fewer blasts with more impact, or
more blasts with less impact and the preference by the stud was for more blasts
at lower impact and now the lobbyists are exploiting that compromise, which was
reached in good faith to paint Drayton as exceeding an acceptable number of
blasts.

Overinflating figures and twisting
facts, undermines the reputation of the Thoroughbred Breeders.

So too is recruiting submissions
for PAC from people who live in Surry Hills and the Central Coast to skew the
real local community sentiment.

It is disrespectful to the people
who really do live in the local community and are directly impacted.

I genuinely feel for people who are
impacted by mining and unfortunately there are plenty within our electorate who
struggle to keep the coal dust out of their homes and whose family has been on
a property for generations before a mine moved next door to them.

But I don’t have sympathy for
people who purchase properties beside a mine and years later complain they can
no longer live together and want the mine to close.

It is the choice of the horse
studs if they want to continue their operations or close it down. It is the
choice of the horse studs if they want to relocate their operations or remain
in the Valley. It is the choice of the horse studs if they want to continue to
employ their local workers, or move.

Unfortunately the Drayton workers
don’t have those same choices.

The decision on if they can stay
and if they can keep their jobs, won’t be freely made by them, or their
employer, but by this PAC.

Drayton has already had to start
laying off workers, as their operations wind down. This is no longer a
hypothetical “people could lose jobs” this is already happening for these workers,
they are already trying to work out how to pay their bills and find work
elsewhere.

Anglo wants to stay in the Valley,
Anglo is not threatening to abandon their local workers and move interstate,
but this PAC could make that decision for them.

Today, many of the local mine workers are here because they
know their fate hangs in the balance with the decision of this PAC.

They worry that they may be laid off before PAC makes a
decision, they worry about how long they can survive without a wage before they
have to leave the area to find work, they worry about taking their children out
of school, their spouse having to leave their job to relocate and they worry
about finding other work.

And it is not only the Drayton workers that worry.

There are subcontractors in this area hanging on by their
fingertips and hoping that this expansion will go ahead and provide some buffer
during a period of downturn in the Valley.

Anglo has not included those workers in their figures, but
they are real and their livelihoods are also hanging in the balance.

I appreciate that there are workers employed on Coolmore and
Darley-Woodlands who are also worried about their job security, but there is a
fundamental difference that the PAC needs to recognise when they make their
decision.

Their employers have a choice, it was their choice to
purchase property beside the coal mine, it is their choice if they stay and it
is their choice if they continue to employ local people.

The employers of the Drayton workers don’t have a choice; they
have to await a ruling on if they will keep their jobs.

I do not give blanket support for mining, I will not be
forced to be polarised as pro-mining or pro-horse studs and I resent the
people, from both sides, who are trying to factionalise our community in that
way.

In this case, I stand firmly in support of the expansion and
of the workers of Drayton.

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